Self-Serve
Max Cost Per Trial
$—- Modeled LTV
- $—
- Max CAC / customer
- $—
- Trial → paid
- —
- Implied payback
- —
- Implied LTV:CAC
- —
Free SaaS Growth Tool · Benchmark Inputs
SaaS CAC Target Calculator
Calculate target customer acquisition cost, cost per demo, and cost per trial while holding a SaaS LTV:CAC or CAC payback-period guardrail.
No company data: the default scenario uses rounded, illustrative SaaS benchmark assumptions. Replace them with your own inputs.
Size CAC by
02 / Targets
Know The Ceiling.
Sales-Led
Max Cost Per Demo
$—Max cost per qualified trial $—
- Modeled LTV
- $—
- Max CAC / customer
- $—
- Demo → paid
- —
- Implied payback
- —
- Implied LTV:CAC
- —
03 / Blended View
Qualified Trial Target
$—100% self-serve100% sales-led
How It Works
How To Calculate Target CAC.
Use the calculator to work backward from your SaaS unit economics instead of choosing acquisition targets from channel averages alone.
Choose LTV:CAC Or Payback
LTV:CAC limits acquisition cost to a share of modeled customer lifetime value. A 3:1 target means modeled LTV should be three times CAC. CAC payback limits acquisition cost to the gross profit expected during a selected number of months.
Model SaaS LTV
This simplified model estimates customer lifetime value as monthly ARPU multiplied by gross margin, divided by monthly customer churn. Lower churn, higher ARPU, or stronger gross margin increases the CAC a business can support.
Translate CAC Into Funnel Targets
Conversion rates turn maximum CAC per customer into a maximum cost per trial or demo. Self-serve uses trial-to-paid conversion. Sales-led uses demo-to-trial and trial-to-paid conversion so the model reflects the full funnel.
Separate Sales-Led And Self-Serve
Different motions often have different ARPU, churn, and conversion rates. Modeling them separately avoids a blended CAC target that is too high for self-serve acquisition or too restrictive for higher-value sales-led customers.
Formulas Used In This CAC Calculator
- Modeled LTV = monthly ARPU × gross margin ÷ monthly churn
- Ratio-based max CAC = modeled LTV ÷ target LTV:CAC ratio
- Payback-based max CAC = monthly ARPU × gross margin × payback months
- Max cost per trial or demo = max CAC × downstream conversion probability
This is a directional SaaS planning tool, not financial advice. It starts with rounded, illustrative benchmark assumptions and contains no embedded client, employer, or company dataset.